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Snow Anchor Palace
Snow Anchor Palace is the Lothaen family summer estate in the town of Snow Anchor in the Kingdom of Bruhinn. It is a sprawling, ostentatious monument to royal wealth, designed to host hundreds of noble guests and thousands of royal guards. The town of Snow Anchor exists solely to support the Palace and to serve pilgrims traveling to see the Snow Anchor relic in the center of town. The Palace is within walking distance of the relic. Nobles come and go from the Palace year-round, but summer is the most active time of year. King Beauregaerd III spends his summers in Snow Anchor, winters in Thraehir, and other seasons in other parts of the kingdom. Snow Anchor Palace is inspired by the French Palace of Versailles, outside Paris, France. Exterior Grounds The Palace grounds are protected by a high, ornamented wall with several carriage gates. Carriage houses and stables inside the wall can house hundreds of horses at a time. A second, inner wall protects a small inner cloister reserved for members of the Lothaen family and their most honored guests. The walls are decorated with hundreds of stone statues of winged ga'arg overlooking the paths and carriage circles, designed to intimidate visitors. The outer grounds include acres of pools, groves, fountains, man-made grottoes, and gardens with miles of trails, roads, and paths and dozens of outbuildings. Some of the gardens include exotic plants not native to the Green Cradle, imported from the Shaolei or Lo'ail Eilin. The outer grounds also include a large aviary, a butterfly garden, an amphitheater, a man-made lake, and a mock pastoral village, complete with mock residents. The outbuildings include a blacksmith, brewer, tannery, clothier, carpenter, and many other necessities of a small, self-sufficient village. In Book 1, Grumdar Lothaen notes that the Palace gates and walls are not well-reinforced, poorly manned, and ill-suited to actual defense. They are more symbolic and ornamental than functional. Interior Chambers The Palace interior is a wild maze of hundreds of guest quarters, several large marble banquet halls, many kitchens, music rooms, lounges, libraries, drawing rooms, parlors, terraces, sun rooms, and much more -- all replete with opulent furniture and art. There is no throne room, however, since the seat of power is at Castle Thraehir. When royal audiences at Snow Anchor are necessary, the King meets his guests in a banquet hall or parlor. History Snow Anchor Palace was founded by Queen Verilaine the Fae, sometime during the Myriad. Verilaine was enchanted by the Snow Anchor relic and tried to have it moved to Thraehir. When the greatest minds and magic of old Bruhinn could not bring the relic to Verilaine, she brought herself to the relic instead. She ordered the construction of a summer home nearby. In the generations thereafter, this humble summer home steadily bloomed into a sprawling palace. The town of Snow Anchor bloomed along with it. Mikoa's Home Although she traveled throughout the kingdom as a child, Mikoa regards Snow Anchor Palace as her home. Growing up, she spent more time here than anywhere else. Prone to wander and explore, she knows every room, path, and passage through the estate, including the narrow corridors, tunnels, and basements used by servants. Spoilers! After the events of Book 1, Snow Anchor Palace is overrun by ga'arg and consumed by the woespawn of Snow Anchor. It becomes an eerie abandoned ruin.